That Pained Look
by Princess Noodle
Summary: After Soul gets slashed open by Crona, every time Maka sees his scar she blames herself more and more. She can't help but feel responsible for him almost dying and it's killing her. Can Soul convince her that being partners means relying on each other and not beating yourself up about everything? Cute SoulxMaka fluff one shot I do NOT own Soul Eater in any way shape or form.


**This takes place probably a couple days after Soul gets back from the hospital after being sliced open by Crona, Don't worry though, I'll do a recap of Maka seeing Soul with his shirt off and her walking off before their party.**

**Happy reading!**

**~PrincessNoodle**

Maka happily walked through the halls of the DWMA. There wasn't anyone around yet she still had a smile adorning her face. Today was the day that Soul was coming home. That meant he was healthy and he was going to be okay. Maka smiled wider, she had cried so much while he was gone so today she felt a 100% better. She finally made it to the infirmary door and knocked cheerfully.

"Excuse me," Maka said as she slipped open the door. Her smile fell as she saw the large scar marring Soul's chest from beside his belly button diagonally to the top of his left shoulder. She looked away, it was completely her fault. Maka calculated that she would have a total of 6 seconds before her tears would break free from behind her eye lids so she made a quick escape. "I'm going home to set up for the party. I'll see you there." And she shut the door behind her before running down the hall. She didn't need Soul to see her cry. That would worry him more and he'd feel bad. He was protecting her, it was a weapon's job to protect its meister. Maka didn't believe that at all, a mister and weapon are one. Their souls connect and if one of them gets hurt, it's like the world is ending for the other as well.

Her tears trailed down her face as she ran. She narrowly missed Tsubaki and Blackstar looking the other way as she sprinted by towards her house. The house that had been empty for a few days with only her in it every night. That was the hardest time for her. Not being able the sleep and unconsciously searching for Soul's soul in the other room, getting more and more depressed every time she noticed that it wasn't there.

She reached her apartment and wiped her tears on her sleeve. When she removed her arm from her face she made a vow, that she would be cheerful tonight, for Soul's sake. It wouldn't be any good if he knew that he was causing her pain with his good intentions. Determination set in her eyes as she opened the door and began to make a big enough meal for her friends.

She was chopping up veggies an hour later when Soul came home. He was wearing a long white shirt with light blue sleeves that covered his arms. Not a bit of skin on his torso was showing and Maka was slightly grateful. She remembered her promise to herself and looked him in the eyes as he bent to take off his shoes.

"Hey Soul," Maka smiled at him, a true smile, "Welcome home." Blair walked from the back of the house and rubbed against his leg in cat form, her own way of saying she missed him being around.

Soul grinned, his trademarked pointed teeth visible. "Good to be back." He finished taking his shoes off and hesitated before walking past Maka towards their bedrooms and bathroom. "I'm going to take a shower, I still smell like disinfectant and that weird salve that Stein put on me. Not cool at all." He watched her as he passed by, when she though he couldn't see her the smile fell a fraction of a bit. When he was safe in the hallway he stopped walking, it broke his heart to see her face fall. "Maka?" He called in a normal volume, knowing it was quiet enough in the house to hear him from anywhere.

"Ya? Maka said and peeked around the wall of the kitchen holding a bowl of lettuce in her hands.

"I missed you, idiot." He kept walking and turned into the bathroom.

Maka went back into the small kitchen area to finish making dinner with a smile on her face.

Their friends piled into the house one after another and stared at the beautiful display of food set up covering the table. Blackstar worked on devouring the entirety of chips in a large bowl sitting closest to him.

"Where's Soul?" Kid asked once they were all sitting around the wooden table.

Maka looked around hoping to see his sneaking a bit of frosting off of the store bought cake sitting on the counter but didn't find him. She shrugged nonchalantly, though she was uneasy not ready to have him out of her sight. "He's probably on his bed, I bet he missed his own bed. Soul?" She called into the hallway to their bedrooms. A muffled sound could be heard and Maka suspected she had woken him from a cat nap. "Everyone's here, we're gonna eat."

She sat back down and watched everyone chatting with each other happily. She knew that they were all rather relieved to have Soul back home and was grateful for their company the last few days.

When Soul appeared and sat in his place in between Kid and Maka the latter stood effectively stopped Blackstar from grabbing more chips out of the mostly empty bowl. "So, today we are finally all together and we are celebrating Tsubaki and Blackstar's first soul collected together and also the fact that Soul is back from the hospital." Her breath hitched for a fraction of a second when she said 'hospital' but no one noticed, or at least didn't comment. They said congratulations all around and told Soul that they were glad to have him back. "Well guys, dig in!" She said and Blackstar greedily grabbed the last chips from the bowl and dumped them on his plate.

After dinner was finished they sat in the living room on various couches and chairs set up around a coffee table.

"Well Maka, it wasn't tasty but it sure was filling!" Blackstar rudely said while patting his overstuffed belly.

"Hey I have an idea, next time you do the cooking." Maka bit back. Tsubaki went to defending Blackstar while also reassuring Maka that her food was actually really delicious, it didn't matter though, Maka was exhausted from cooking that big a meal so she was a bit irritated. Liz and Patty also comment on how everything was good and that took the edge off of Maka.

"Wow, you guys have a nice place here, it's so tidy. You must make a point of keeping it clean," Kid complimented. Leave it to Kid to read the situation so clearly and try to turn it around. Maka turned her head to thank him before Soul who was sitting next to the reaper, spoke up.

"It helps that Maka yells at me whenever I make a mess," His eyes were closed and his gripped each other around the back of his head. Maka began to feel self-conscious, maybe she yelled at Soul too much, over the last few months he had been protecting her more than ever, first against Stein and then the demon swordsman.

Soul looked over to him when he didn't get a quip back and saw her expression, a mix of hurt and irritability, he would bet anything that she was still just irritated at Blackstar. No one else saw it though as Blair came in the room in just a towel and asked if anyone would like to take a bath with her. She held her arms up and the towel fell down, exposing her. Soul fell backwards, hitting his head on the table in the process.

Kid had a horrified look on his face and Patty couldn't help but laugh at him, "I-is this what it's always like?"

"Oh ya, you want her, this sexy kitty's free," Soul answered with a bloody nose.

"Blair go take your bath alone, no one wants to see that," Maka said and the cat girl pouted before scampering off down the hallway to the bathroom. The ash blonde haired girl stood up and swayed slightly, enough for Soul to barely notice. She yawned and Soul finally saw how tired she was, he didn't know how much sleep she had been getting and knowing her it was much less than needed, plus she had just spent hours and hours making all this food for them and hosting the party.

Soul stretched out of his position on the couch and faked a yawn, "Hey guys, I don't mean to be rude but I'm pretty tired so you should probably all go home. We'll see you tomorrow." Everyone agreed to leave easily enough. They each wished Soul and Maka a good night before they left and soon Maka was standing in the kitchen once again, doing dishes. Soul watched her for a moment then headed to the washroom. Blair had finished with her bath and was now sleeping on Maka's bed in cat form so Soul was free to do his business.

All was silent in the apartment besides the rushing water from the kitchen sink until a loud crash was heard. It woke up Blair and soon she and Soul were running from the hall into the kitchen where Maka was standing still, looking down at the plate she had dropped and broken.

The exhaustion was set into her face and she moved as if she wasn't all there. She bent to pick up the broken pieces of ceramic, cutting herself in the process.

"Hey Maka! What are you doing?" Soul said and ran to kneel beside her. He grabbed her hand, leading her to the bathroom to wash the cut out and bandage it. They stood there for a moment in silence, Blair had left to nap again after seeing Soul take charge so it was just them. "You're tired." He stated, it sounded accusing and when Maka made no move to respond he angrily rifled through the first aid kit under the sink. "Why didn't you let me help if you were this tired? You could've just asked."

"You just got back, I didn't want to be a bother, plus this was a party for you." He stopped shoving things around as he found the right sized bandaid for her finger.

"You don't have to be strong all the time, we're partners so we have to rely on each other, and be honest," Maka had the sneaking suspicion that he wasn't just talking about dinner, meaning her façade was easily seen through.

"What are you talking about?" She laughed it off, "There's no need to worry."

Soul frowned.

Later that night, Maka lay awake in her bed, thinking. Had her remorse been too obvious towards Soul? He seemed to know exactly what was bugging her. He was her partner, of course he knew what was wrong. He was the closest person to her, the one she trusted the most. She couldn't hide anything from him, nor did she want to.

A soft knock rang through Soul's room. He groggily sat up in his bed in slight confusion.

"Maka?" His door opened slowly and she stood in the hall, just barely outside his room. "Maka," He repeated and she lifted her head. The look in her eyes influenced him to call her into his room. He held his arms open, a sign he wanted to hug her, to comfort her in a way only she allowed him to. Maka stopped walking to him suddenly, staring at his bare chest and his long scar, that look passed over her eyes again. The look at begged Soul to grab hher arm and pull her into the bed with him. "I hate seeing that look on your face."

All was silent for a few moments.

"You're right, I'm not strong, I need help, I need your help most of all."

"I never said you weren't strong. Maka, you're the strongest person I know, I said you don't need to be so strong. "You need to let me in to help you instead of pushing me away to try and help me. I want to be as close as I can be with you."

Maka let a few tears slip through closed eyes as she snuggled deeper into his stitched chest. Soul kissed the top of her head and help her tighter, letting her fall asleep curled up against him.

**So, there you have it… My SoMa one shot… Sorry if Maka cried a lot more than she did… but come on… Soul got sliced open, I was f*cking crying imagine how she felt!**

**Anyway, yup, go SoMa, also if you like KiMa I also have a story up that's completed about them, no Soul bashing… Actually nobody gets bashed in that one with I guess is a nice relief because some people are really cruel, saying that Soul is abusive and stuff and so Maka runs away to go to Kid… Like that's harsh, Soul is definitely not that kinda guy.**

**Happy reading! Hope you enjoyed it**

**~PrincessNoodle**


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